Cole Promise: Teen mother takes advantage of Hickenlooper's pledge

"When I'm back on my feet, I'll probably move out. I can't live at home forever."

Marisol Garcia, 21, is in her apartment in Denver, Colo., on Wednesday, April 4, 2012. Marisol was a student at Cole Middle School and, despite becoming a mother at 14, has pursued her education with help from the scholarship money. She's studying to be a dental assistant. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

In 2004, Marisol Garcia sat in the auditorium with the rest of her Cole Middle School classmates when the mayor said something about guaranteeing resources for college.

At 12, she wasn't even sure he was serious. At 13, she was pregnant and not even sure she'd make it through high school.

Home life had shifted to crisis mode as Marisol's pregnancy, coupled with her parents' sudden split, threw everything into a state of uncertainty.

"I really wasn't thinking about going to school," Marisol said, "just about how I was going to live, how I was going to raise my daughter. What was next?"

She enrolled at Florence Crittenton High, where she obtained day-care and parenting skills for her child, Daisha — and found direction and resolve.

"It was really just knowing what I wanted for myself," said Marisol, now 21 and pursuing certification as a dental assistant. "A lot of girls didn't care about education. They really gave up. But they also probably didn't have support like I did."

Even with the backing of teachers at Florence Crittenton and her mother at home, Marisol still wondered at times if her efforts would be futile. "But I kept thinking of my daughter," she said.

"Every day she'd get up by herself, get ready, get her baby ready for school," Leticia said. "After school, she started working as a tutor. She had a whole bunch of challenges."

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After high school, Marisol enrolled Daisha in Head Start and volunteered in the program to earn a tuition break. She was considering a career in nursing, but an internship program at a local hospital made her realize that dental work might be more to her liking.

With the help of Cole funds, Marisol enrolled at the Emily Griffith Technical College to pursue certification as a dental aide and completed a five-month course. Then she started pursuing the Dental Assisting program, a more rigorous nine-month commitment.

But those studies, combined with full-time work at a downtown drug store and the demands of parenting, have proven more difficult. She will need to retake a class before embarking on 300 hours of clinical experience.

"Sometimes," she said, "when you do clinicals and they like you, they hire you right off the bat. When I'm back on my feet, I'll probably move out. I can't live at home forever."

It may take longer than she originally planned, but the post-secondary education made possible in part by the mayor's promise eight years ago now promises to launch Marisol on a career trajectory that once seemed improbable.

"I didn't want her to go through what I did," said Leticia, who had become a teen mom when Marisol was born. "Back then, you needed high school.